


The Cloud Alliance

by Darkdragon2670



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Dark's Property, F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 13:33:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9493652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkdragon2670/pseuds/Darkdragon2670
Summary: This is a co-owned series by both me (darkdragon2670, also known as Dark) and my friend, Faustisse (aka Fauz).





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, I'm Dark. The Cloud Alliance series is owned entirely by Fauz and I (darkdragon2670). Do NOT claim credit or part ownership (or even just sole ownership) for this series and any work posted by me that fits into any series that I created/co-own. Also note that I may write scenes of extreme gore, and if you are not comfortable with that, then I suggest you stop reading what I write.
> 
> Other than that, I hope you enjoy!

**PART ONE: REBELS AND BLOODLUST**

**~CHAPTER 1~**

Adderblaze rested his tail over his paws. _Soon_ , he thought, and the excitement that ran through him was like lightning in his blood. Soon he would get to see his wonderful Applebounce and name the kits. His paws twitched and his ears detected a small movement-yes, he could hear it too; the short, exhilarated breathing. The paws slowly creeping forward…

Sighing, he said, "Honestly, I don't understand how you could try and scare me when you know I'm alert and running on adrenaline, Whitefoot."

The grey-and-white she-cat grinned. "I was hoping to catch you off guard."

"You just made me more suspicious and even more on guard." he replied.

Whitefoot batted his tail. "How did you know it was me?"

"Hmm, let's see. First, I could hear your breathing-you really need to work on breathing silently when stalking your prey otherwise they'll jump into a clump of reeds and be gone before you could blink. Second, I could _smell_ you. You smell like cherries or something. Oh, and by the way, I could hear you creeping up on me. Your paws make this really weird sound, like claws on dirt." 

"Duh, my claws were on dirt. They still are." Whitefoot twined her tail with his as her smile faded slightly. "How is she, bro?"

Adderblaze scowled slightly, hoping to look a little more stern than rattled. While Whitefoot's 'stalking him' didn't startle him, this question did. "I told you to stop calling me 'bro'. It's... annoying and I'm too old to be called that." Adderblaze looked away, not wanting to meet her eyes. "Apple's fine. I wish I could see her though, but she said that I'd make her nervous and it would be harder for her. Who am I to argue, anyway?"

But still. It was awful! He really wanted to see her... but he had to give her privacy. Privacy was everything to Applebounce.

Whitefoot was silent for a few more minutes, clearly thinking, before she said, her voice a little slower and less bouncy than usual, "Why don't you go check on her? I'm sure Frostscar wouldn't mind, especially if you asked. If she says no, then... just ask her how much longer." However annoyed Adderblaze sometimes got with Whitefoot, he was grateful to have her as a sister. Whitefoot was caring and compassionate. He knew that he could always count on her when he was in a dilemma and needed some comforting.

"Okay," he said. Adderblaze hesitated before adding, "Thanks... Whitefoot... for everything."

 

**.                                                      .                                                      .**

 

Frostscar flicked her tail. "I'll check on her first," said the white she-cat firmly. Adderblaze nodded in understanding, waiting for her to come back.

After a few moments, Frostscar came back, a pleased smile playing on her muzzle. "Applebounce is ready for you Adderblaze. Do you still care to see her?"

Hope rose in his chest. "Why, yes I do. Please take me to her." Frostscar led him to Applebounce, who was stretched out on a nest made for her, three kits yawning and blinking at him. Adderblaze chuckled and then made his way around the tumbling kits, over to Applebounce who was watching him with tired, sweet brown eyes.

"How are you, Adderblaze?" she asked quietly. Behind him, Frostscar mouthed something at him, gave a small wave with her paw, and then left.

He didn't know where to begin.

"I don't know," he admitted after a moment of thinking. "I.... I feel okay, but I was worried about you. I guess you could say I feel alright now. How are you?"

Applebounce gave a small laugh. "Quite fine, Adderblaze. However, I feel like we're forgetting someone. Three someones, in fact. What should we name them?"

"Oh I don't know. How about..." he trailed off as his mind went blank.

Applebounce sighed. "You didn't spend five minutes thinking about names for them, correct?"

"No, sorry, Apple. But to make things easier, how about we name the first one Applekit?"

Applebounce laughed. "No!"

"Then you name them if my suggestions don't please you." Adderblaze smiled at her.

Applebounce lifted her snout into the air. "I think I will."

With some difficulty, she got out of the nest and strutted over to the other kits.

She crouched down stared at one of the kits, a female with a brown spotted pelt and oak-colored eyes. "I shall name you.... Hazelkit." Applebounce flicked her tail at Adderblaze. "Get over here, Adder. You need to help me name them. You're their parent too. You do realize that, don't you?"

"Oh great," Adderblaze rolled his eyes. "I love parental lectures. Yell at me some more, why don't you?"

But he walked over to her, twining his tail with Applebounce's. He peered at the other kits, sizing them up, trying to find a good name that matched their qualities. One of them, a young silvery-brown tom looked up at him with large green eyes. He blinked at Adderblaze who thought, _Hmm... doesn't look like a fighter. Perhaps he'll turn out to be a medicine cat. In this case, I'll need to come up with a name... flexible, firm, and reliable._

"Birchkit," he decided. Applebounce looked up and nodded approvingly. Applebounce paced next to the last unnamed kit, a young dark bluish-black she-cat with hints of dark grey along her underbelly and the back of her ears. She had a long, wiry body and light grey bands coiled around her forearms and tail. Her eyes were an electric blue and she was gazing intently at Applebounce as though she were something worth looking at.

A mischievous smile that held something laid-back and lazy danced on her snout. _Hmm.... frisky, but not that energetic. Almost as though a practical joke would please her, but a three day gag would exhaust her. Like Birchkit, probably destined to be a medicine cat but might hunt and fight when necessary. She's quite.... complicated. I think I should leave this one to Applebounce._

"What are you thinking, Applebounce?" he asked. "I can't think of anything. I mean... she's mischievous but looks almost lazy, like she'd rather be napping. Could you come up with a name for her?"

"Did you even try, Adderblaze?" was her reply.

"No," he admitted. "But... she's complicated."

"What kind of name is that? 'Complicatedkit'? That sounds so weird. I don't think any cat would be very pleased if they heard you."

"It's not that." he rolled his eyes as Applebounce snickered. "I meant she's hard to figure out. And no, I don't mean to call her Hard-to-figure-out-kit. Too lengthy anyway."

Applebounce sighed. "Fine." Adderblaze knew that when she said 'fine' in that tone of voice, it meant she couldn't think of a way to snark back. She sat down next to the kit and Adderblaze paced up, then sat down next to Applebounce, who was sitting next to the little kit. "How about this, we'll close our eyes, and whatever we see, that's what we'll name her."

"What if I see the word 'complicated'?" inquired Adderblaze.

"Then if you see anything besides complicated, then that's what we'll call her." Applebounce smiled, a tired grin that stretched across her face. Adderblaze didn't press further. Applebounce closed her eyes. Adderblaze twined his tail with hers, and then closed his as well, trying to look deeper into the inky blackness of his eyelids. Then a moment later, he saw pinpricks of light and a comet raced across the darkness. Great big trees loomed outwards, snow sparkling off of their branches in the moonlight that he could see. But the Silverpelt was shining more brightly in his mind, glittering, like falling snowflakes.

"What do you see, Apple?" he whispered.

"I see... stars. What about you?" Apple's voice was quavering, as though she were unsure.

"I see the same." he replied.

"Let's call her Starkit."

 

**.                                                      .                                                      .**

 

 

Reedpaw swam, propelling through the water and trying to catch up with his mentor, Quickstream. Bubbles rose out of his nostrils as he struggled through the murky bluish mass that was the bottom of the river. He grumbled with exhaustion. _Wherever we’re going, it better be worth getting out of bed,_ he told himself gruffly. Quickstream had woken him up early and when Reedpaw had asked him where they were going, he'd merely replied with a mysterious smile and a, "You'll see."

  
Suddenly, Quickstream stopped and Reedpaw crashed into him. The grayish-blue tom swam upwards until a moment later, his head disappeared above the surface of the water. Reedpaw burst out and collapsed on to the bank of the river. "Come," Quickstream gestured, flicking off the excess water from his ears, water rolling off his snout. "Let's go."

"Let's... wait a second, alright? I'm.. really tired..." Reedpaw yawned, feeling so tired that he could have slept through anything, even if a cat shoved mud up his nose. His webbed paws ached and his flexible spine felt as though it would snap any second. "Please?"

  
Quickstream glanced at his limp pupil for a moment. Then he sighed. "We can wait." Reedpaw could see that he was trying to get a move on with things, but he wasn't so ready yet. Especially since they only had short breaks for air - other than that, they'd been swimming aimlessly for hours, from what Reedpaw could tell. And Quickstream still hadn't told him where they were going or why they had left the Clan! "Border patrol doesn't start until much later, anyway."

  
"Border patrol?" Reedpaw perked up. "Really?" Reedpaw had never been part of a border patrol. He'd always wanted to, since the moment he had become an apprentice, but it wasn't his decision to decide whether he got to be part of a border patrol.

  
His mentor nodded. "We had to make sure that no other cats from the other Clans crossed the barrier between our territory and theirs." Reedpaw had heard about the barriers - the invisible lines that distinguished their territory from another Clan's. AirClan's was marked by the trace of pine trees while his own clan, WaterClan gave off the scent of a rainy day. FireClan's had the aroma of smoke and IceClan's reeked of spearmint. EarthClan's smelled like a hibiscus flower. "Otherwise, it could lead to a Clan dispute, and nobody likes to have a war with each other."

  
"Right. We just tolerate each other, right?" he inquired. Quickstream dipped his head with approval.  _Why can't we just be united together?_

  
"Now lets go," Quickstream whacked his tail into the water, sending a wave of cold surging over him, soaking him down to the bone. Reedpaw jumped and yelped but was shushed by Quickstream's paw in his mouth. "Shh," he hissed, his fur spiked. "Do you want to wake any unwanted visitors?"  _Sorry,_ he thought.

  
Reedpaw shook his head. "Sorry," he whispered. Quickstream sighed and looked away. Finally, he beckoned for him to follow. Reedpaw staggered after him, tripping over his tail and climbing awkwardly over fallen trees, the membranes of his paws feeling as though they might tear.

  
"Stop right there!" a voice shouted. Reedpaw yelped once again and slipped on some wet mud, the ooze hitting him right in his snout. A mouse sprinted through his paws and he scrambled upwards. _Eww_ , he thought. _I don't want mud in my face!_  Quickstream glanced at his pathetic apprentice before turning back. _Ugh. Why do you have to be so disappointing?_ Reedpaw cursed. Five WaterClan cats stepped forward. "Quickstream," said a bluish-gray tom. "We thought you were an enemy. What are you doing here?"  
"Riversong, Wolfgaze, Snakewatcher, Thistleclaw, and Rainwhisperer," Quickstream inclined his head. "Border patrol, I assume?"  _Border patrol! But they're supposed to be patrolling a little later. Not this early!_

  
The tom, Thistleclaw nodded. "Why are you up so early? Most other mentors and apprentices would be just getting up by now."  _Why are_ you  _up so early?_  Reedpaw wondered.

Quickstream didn't look at him, but merely flicked his ears, which Reedpaw had come to learn that it meant that it was his turn to speak. "Uh... we-...um... we were sc-scouting ahead and... uh... were going to... um... wait until it was time for border patrol and then... uh... tag along...?" _Reedpaw, be brave!_ Snakewatcher looked unimpressed, her green eyes glittering with distaste. Wolfgaze sucked in a breath through his teeth and Reedpaw shrank underneath him.  _Please don't hurt me._

  
"That is precisely what we were trying to accomplish," Quickstream interjected. "May we join you?" _I hope they'll let us._

  
"Perhaps he should work on his stealth," suggested Rainwhisperer, her voice as soft as her name implied. _Thanks, Rainwhisperer. I need to work on my stealth. Great._ "The reason why we were up much earlier was because we could hear him all the way from camp." Reedpaw lowered his head in shame, his face burning. "And after all, we don't want to let the entire forest know that we are patrolling much earlier than usual. Who knows what could happen because of mere assumptions?" She sounded gentle, but Reedpaw wondered if she was just as disgusted as Snakewatcher.

  
Quickstream draped his tail on Reedpaw's aching shoulder. "He needs to know what it's like, going with a border patrol."  _Yeah! I need to know! How else am I supposed to become a warrior if all I do is screw up all the time? I need to come along so I know how this is supposed to work!_

  
Riversong glanced at Thistleclaw, who flicked his striped tail. The seven of them began to walk back to the borders when Quickstream slowed down to match Reedpaw's pace. 

_Here comes the great big mentor lecture on being careful.  
_

_I've heard it from you a million times, Quickstream.  
_

_I don't need to hear it again._

 

**.                                                      .                                                      .**

  

Wildfire tried to sneak off stealthily and follow her border patrol, but sharp claws found her snout. A second pair latched onto her shoulders, forcing her to the ground. "Don't even think about it, smoke-snout." Cold, serrated claws pressed her snout into the frost-covered grass of IceClan.

A frigid voice hissed in her ears, "Thought you could enter our territory unnoticed? You should've known that we wouldn't let the likes of you get by without a fight." She struggled and tried to rise, but those same claws were back, scraping her neck against the cold grass, her windpipe closing against the heavy black claws of Coldheart. 

"Frostbite! Sharpview!" Coldheart hissed angrily. Two cats came into view - one an icy white, the other a cold, unforgiving gray. "Throw her into her prison cell." Frostbite, the gray she-cat snarled and grabbed a branch with her sharp teeth. Sharpview, white she-cat removed a wall of branches, leading to a cave packed tightly with mud and more logs. Frostbite prodded her rather viciously in her underbelly.

Then Sharpview shoved her into the cave and Frostbite as well as another cat, a black tom, piled up the branches. She heard two loud  _thunks_ , and Wildfire could only assume that they had placed two other branches stacked on top of each other vertically to provide more of a barrier.

Her cell was pitch black, without even a shred of light to break a hole through the shadows that overwhelmed her. She was completely, helplessly, utterly blind. To any other cat, such incarceration would have been somewhat tolerable. But the cats of FireClan needed their space, for them to run, their paws made to sprint free from the raging fires that would attack their clan. To be trapped, buried under the earth, hemmed in and blinded, was a living nightmare. To Wildfire, the darkness and the confinement were nothing less than torture. She pounded against the walls, clawing desperately for a secret tunnel, a way to break down the logs and run, any exit to this torment. Her claws began to bleed as she thrashed and struck the walls, yowling for someone to let her go. 

Reality came crashing back into the forefront of her mind, and she remembered the choking blackness, the night pressing her sightless eyes, the walls that entombed a living, breathing body. The darkness surrounded her and pressed against her, so close and so thick that Wildfire could not draw breath.

Hot tears trickled down her muzzle.

So this was it.

IceClan had won.

IceClan would always win.

She shrieked in fury, breaking her paws against the walls in the vain hope that someone, anyone, would hear her. 

No one came.

She would die down here, cold and alone, with no one to hear her screams.

Wildfire pressed her head against the cold stone wall of her tomb, and began to sob, as the last ashes of hope finally deserted her broken soul.

 

**.                                                      .                                                      .**

 

Fishbone sighed, his ears drooping. "Stop moping around and get up!" Azrael snapped. The larger cat paced around him and growled low in his throat. "Honestly! You would think-"

"That I don't want to talk right now?" Fishbone grumbled aloud. He reached out trying to see if he could catch a passing butterfly, but then lowered his paw, with a sigh of defeat. Ripper padded outside and licked her fur. "Then you're absolutely right. Just leave me alone right. I don't need to hear about your problems."

"Ouch," Ripper purred softly. "You don't need to bite his head off, Fishy."

"No one calls me 'Fishy'." he replied shortly. 

"Funny," Ripper smirked. "Last I checked, there wasn't a cat called 'No one'. I suspect you must mean me." Azrael opened his mouth but Ripper added, "Cork it, Azzy. Whatever _you_ have to say, it probably wasn't important." Fishbone smirked at him.

"I was just going to - did you just call me Azzy? That's some... _ripped_ nicknames right there." Azzy curled his tail around his paws.

Fishbone grinned, his mood brightening immediately. "Nailed it."

"What are you three making a fuss about?" a fat, plump reddish-brown tom hopped off the fence in what Fishbone could only assume was supposed to be with dignity, but instead, he hit the ground - face first.  _Ouch._ "How am I supposed to sleep if y'all keep talkin'?" As he got closer, Fishbone realized who the tom was - a very rude cat by the name of Sasquatch.

"Sass-watch!" cheered Ripper. "I wondered when you'd come!" 

Azzy murmured into Fishbone's ear, "The watcher of sass." Fishbone had to duck his head and lick his paws to hide his heaving shoulders. 

"Sorry that you missed me," Sasquatch replied pompously. "Scorch, Ice, Flame, and Kamikaze held me up at the meeting."

"Right..." Fishbone looked over his shoulder, distracted. He only heard garbled mumbling from the fat cat as Sasquatch described the meeting. For a moment, he saw gold eyes staring back at him. Then he blinked and they were gone.  _I must be imagining things,_ he thought. Subconsciously, forgetting about the other cats in the garden with him, he reached up to touch his temples briefly.

"Fishy?" asked Ripper. "Hello? You there? Spearmint to Fishy. Hello?"

"Wh-what?" Fishbone blinked out of his stupor. "Sorry, what? I wasn't paying attention."

"We were just talking abou - what were you looking at over there?" Azzy demanded. Sasquatch huffed a breath of annoyance. "Be quiet, Sass-watch. No one invited you to this garden." he added. The reddish-brown tom looked shocked to be put in his place, but Azzy wasn't examining his expression - he seemed more interesting in the dark trees that loomed only a few paw-steps away.

_It's so close. I can escape this prison. I could live free. With no worry. With no Sass-watch always around.  
_

_Is that where I belong?_

**Author's Note:**

> Please check out Lucid Nightmare and my (incomplete and kind of dormant) other series, Suicide, where my first UT fanfiction, A Dead Heart fits into. I also know that UT is kinda old, but I started that, so I might update it and finish it just to get it out of the way.


End file.
